Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elizabeth Milian. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Elizabeth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Timing is such an important consideration. Logistically, starting a new business requires a level of focus and dedication that can be challenging. It was only in the last few years that starting a business became a real possibility. As a working mother, it has always been important for me to be present for my children. Before launching the firm in 2023, that balance between personal and professional commitments looked very different.

When we started the firm, I had already been licensed for 14 years and so I was able to bring a corporate and litigation skillset from day one. As the cofounder of The Milian Legal Group, my work involves supporting entrepreneurs, creatives, and businesses to protect, monetize, and grow their brands. On a day-to-day basis, I work with clients across industries and stages of growth, so having depth of experience and a business mindset helps me understand and appreciate more deeply the issues that my clients are navigating.

Had the firm launched earlier, the day to day would have looked a lot different as well. Until 2020, so much of our work as attorneys was done in person, while now it is customary to meet and collaborate with clients on virtual platforms. Clients appreciate the efficiency and our firm invests in and leverages technology to provide more seamless personalized services.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have started the business with my partner when we did, and for a number of reasons, our launch came at the right moment.

Elizabeth , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I came to law as a second career, and growing up, it was not something I was focused on at all. Instead, my initial plan was to work in art restoration. It wasn’t until I attended college in New York City, and had the opportunity to intern at galleries, and an auction house, that the commercial intersection between art and the consumer market began to fascinate me. Prior to this time, art was more academic, but these early work experiences led me think of art as an asset class.

Fast forward to today, I am an attorney and business owner focused on brand protection. In my practice, I support clients with protecting and monetizing their creative assets. A business can have multiple creative assets, or intellectual property, that are foundational to the business and worth protecting. I work with businesses of all sizes to solve the problem of how to protect their brands through each stage of the business.

What sets my practice apart is that I approach legal from a business perspective, focusing on asset preservation, and the fundamentals every business needs to protect their brand. My favorite area of practice is working with clients to secure federal trademarks on their brand names and unique brand elements like logos, catchphrases, and product lines, ensuring their creative assets are fully protected across the United States.

I’m most proud of the accessible and hands on approach we take to working with clients. I personally handle my client’s matters, and consider our work together as a partnership from start to finish.

One of the main things I want potential clients to know is the importance of brand protection for their own businesses. It’s not just a legal necessity but a strategic investment that pays dividends over the lifetime of your business.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This is a great question because pivoting can be challenging in the short term, but in the long term, it can genuinely create growth. Whether personally or professionally, we all face situations where unexpected circumstances arise, and we have to recalibrate and adjust.

In my life, this looked like making a career switch in my late twenties. Before attending law school, I worked in asset management for a global bank. I went to law school to acquire an additional skill set to further that work. At the time, my plan was to return to the banking sector and focus on asset protection as an attorney working for a bank. However, I graduated during the 2008 recession, and the job market had shifted entirely as a result.

By this time, I was expecting my daughter, who was born shortly before the 2008 summer bar exam. Becoming a new parent during a recession meant making substantial adjustments to what I thought my professional path was supposed to look like. Ultimately, I waited a year between graduation and taking the bar exam. During my subsequent job search, I quickly realized that the only employment opportunities were in litigation roles, a path I hadn’t considered initially.

Like markets, life is dynamic, and meaningful opportunities aren’t static or foreseeable. Maintaining flexibility in your mindset or outlook can be the first step toward the next stage in your life or your work.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Independence has always been important to me. A lesson I had to unlearn is that I don’t need to solve every problem on my own. As someone who believes in the importance of self-reliance—asking for assistance was generally not my first course of action.

As a business owner however, I quickly realized this was no longer the most useful perspective. Instead, I now prioritize bringing in outside subject matter experts early on. Overall, I have found that it’s more efficient to get specific guidance from these professionals, and it frees up my schedule to focus on serving clients and running the practice. Identifying areas that could be delegated to outside professionals, like our CPA, our marketing team, and other subject matter experts has been key to growing the practice effectively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brandbuilderlegal.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandbuilderlegal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560962966101
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethmilian/

Image Credits

BlueSpark Photography